Tractor.



W. BOULAIS.

TRACTOR.

APPLICATIONYHLED APR. 26, 1918.

Patented Jan. 2L 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEEI l.

W. BOULAIS.

TRACTOR. APPUCATlON FILED APR. 25, 1912:.

Patented Jun, 21, 1919. 3 SHEETS-YSHEEI 2.

W. BOULAiS.

TRACTOR. APPLICATlON FILED APR. 26,1918.

Patented Jan. 21, 191$) xv I 5? W W LQQEUTM-U,

WILFB-ID BOULAIS, F rrswic'n', MASSACHUSETTS.

TRACTOR.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, \VILFItID BOULAIS, a"

" citizen of the United States, residing at Ipswich, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, ha veinvented certaln new and'useful Improvements in Tractors; and I do declare the following and exact description 0 the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in't-he art to same. v Y

My invention has for its principal. ob ect to provide an extremely simple and max- "which ita'ppertaiiis to make and use the i pensive. yet 'ahighly etlicient, and durable traction and steering unit for the front ends of tractorsgthe'tractor trame belng supported by said unit and carrying means for f which form a" -in'whichz Figure l is a top plan view of a tractor operating the driving mechanism and means for steering. i i r .With the foregoing general object in view, the invention resides in the novel features of construction and unique combinations of' parts to be hereinafterfully described and claimed the descriptive matter being supplc mented by the acconnmnying drawings part of thls specification and embodying my invention; v

ling; 21s a sideelevation with parts removedfand in section;

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section through,

the front end of the. machine: and I Fig t is -avertical transverse section on the plane indicated by the line 4 '4ofl ig. 3.

In. the drawings above briefly. described.

' the numeralfl designatesa frontaxle having oneor moretraction wheels 2 which are t 'so secured in place as to .permit'remoral of 'OIIO'UI' the. other when two are employed, so

that the i-nachine may be driven without injuring rows of growing crops. Mounted on "the axle 1 and carrying the bearuigsthereot,

is'a relatively flat gear case 3 having formed integrally wlth its front end a vertical cylindrical bearing l. vertical strut 5 prefer-- ably rises from amt is integrallyjoined to the rear end of the-casing 3, and the upper end of said strut and the bearing 4 are tegrally or otherwise connected '\\'1tha'-ho r1 zontal support 6 preferably in the form of :1 napalm 3 ,lilieftractor frame 7 is provided at its front. end \vit lr-a flat plate 8 from which a tubular journal 9 depends, said journal being preferably formed integrally with said to be a' full,- clear,

end a supporting wheel .27.

. specification! t' ment- Patented Jan. 21, 1919. Application filed mm, 1918. Seria1N o.'2 30,892.-

plate. and being rotatably received in the upper half of the bearing 4; -To retain the ournal and bcaring'in proper relation, the

former is by preference formcdwith an annular groove lttmto which the innerend of a set'screw or the'like 11 extends, this arrangement serving in no manner to .interfel'e with proper steering of the machine upon the journal 9 as a pivot. The rear edge of plate (5 is concentricwith thejournal and bearing 4 and is formed with gear 'teeth 12. said teeth meshing with a pinion '13 mounted on the frame Tand operated by any preferred means such as the worm of worm-gear llon'the front end of dinal steering shaft 15.

.Positionedwithin the, gear case 3 and mounted for rotating'the axle 1 is a worm gear 16 meshing with a worm 17 and a lower end of a vertical drive shaft 18 which is rotatably mounted in the tulnilar journal 9, suitable bearings such as 19 being also pro-' .vided for said shaft wherever desirable. The upper end of shaft 13 is provided with a friction disk QO coacting with asccond disk :21 on an engine shaft 22, the engiue '23 being mounted on the frame 7 in any preferred manner. By suitable meansBl. the disk 21 may be shifted forwardly and rearwardly to vary the speed at which the shaft 18 is lgot'ated and to reverse when necessaryf lVhen driving forwa'rdly, the worm 17 tends to thrust upw'm'dlyon the shaft 18 and conseou'ently the-disk 20 is maintained in exceptiomdly'tight eng ageunmtwith the disk 21'. so that no slippage whatever takes place. It is to beunderstoodhowever that the engagement of the two disks is such as to prevent an undesirable amount of slippage when driving l't:ll\\'.:ll'tll also. I

Any preferred hitch could well be cmploycd. but l' prefer to utilize an arrange The features of, construction above (le" scribed may well be used on tractors of nua longitumerous types. but are-designed primarily for a three point support machine'as will 'lhetractor frame 7 be clear from Fig. l. is shown terminating at its rear end in a longitudinal beam '36 carrying at its rear The wheel or wheels 2 form 'one. point of support, the

Wheel 27 forms the second point, and the third is formed by a caster Wheel 28 suitably mounted on a lateral extensible and retractable frame 29 secured to the frame 7. By extending or retracting the frame as re- 'qnired, and possibly removing one of the Wheels 2, if two are provided, it is insured best results are obtained from the details shown and described, they are preferably employed, but Within the scope of the inven- Leone 1o tion as claimed, numerous minor changes may Well be made i I claim:

In a front construction for tractors, a Wheeled axle, a gear case mounted on said axle, a Worm-gear in said case for driving said axle, a vertical cylindrical bearing joined rigidly to and rising from the front end of said gear case, a strut rising rigidly from the rear end of said gear case, a horizontal supporting plate joined to the upper ends of said bearing and strut, a -tractor frame having its front end supported-on said plate, a vertical tubular'journal depending rigidly from said frame and received rotatably in said -bearing,a vertical driven shaft rotatably mounted in said tubular journal and having a Worm meshing with said Worm gear, means for driving said shaft, and means for steering. I

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. i

WILFRID BOULAIS. 

